Muslim acid attacker jailed for 30 years

Left: Mohammed Vakas.

Yahoo news reports an acid attacker who left a 25-year-old man severely disfigured in a horrific plot to avenge his family's "dishonour" has been jailed for 30 years. Mohammed Vakas was found guilty by an Old Bailey jury of plotting to murder Awais Akram.

The victim was targeted because of his intimate relationship with Sadia Khatoon, 24, a married businesswoman he had met on Facebook, the court heard. When her husband, Shakeel Abassi, and Vakas, her brother, found out about it, they got her to lure Mr Akram out of his flat to the scene of the attack.

There the victim was beaten and stabbed before Vakas poured concentrated sulphuric acid over his head, leaving him with 47% burns and fighting for his life.
Vakas, 26, of Walthamstow, was found guilty of conspiring with Khatoon and her husband to murder Mr Akram. Read more

Fighting Acid Attacks in Pakistan - Are there unreported cases in Britain?

Left: Victims of acid attacks in Pakistan.

Many women living in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have been the victims of acid attacks that have distorted their faces. In Pakistan in 2009, there were 48 registered cases. Only a third of acid attack victims are officially reported, estimates the Acid Survivors Foundation, a non-governmental organisation. A new domestic violence draft law to stop these attacks is currently under review in the Pakistani parliament.

Article from Deutsche Welle

Naila Farhat was 13 when she became the victim of a heinous crime -- an acid attack. Her schoolteacher wanted her to marry his friend. She and her family had made the “mistake” of saying they did not want her to get married so early.

"I was coming back from school that day,” Naila remembers. “My schoolteacher and his friend crossed my path and asked me to go along with them. When I refused my teacher held me tight and his friend threw acid in my face." Read more